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Original Message

First of all, let me say, I am a staunch 2nd Amendment supporter and was raised that way from a very early age. I came from a family where my father concealed carried, due to his profession, and I was taught proper gun handling from about 6 years old. I go practice shooting for recreation and would never advocate anything that would not grandfather current gun owners / arms purchased in the past.

Now with that said, I have an open mind and I'm also a numbers guy. I've been doing my own research and have come to some conclusions..

First of all, I am noticing that more guns does not equal less crime and let me explain why. Most of the states with highest gun ownership rates do NOT have a dramatic reduction in violent crimes. In fact many of them are among the highest gun death rate per capita in our country. See where your state falls:

Notice which ones are the lowest.. Now I'm against any kind of all out bans, (see Chicago) however the most permissive states in their gun laws are among the higher death rates and I will tell you why.

There's a particular Wal-Mart in the town I live that everyone knows you should avoid. No one wants to go there. The service sucks, it's full of crackheads and you feel like you may get stabbed walking to your car. When you mention that Wal-Mart, anyone from around here goes "Oh THAT one.." with wide eyes. You could go right down the road and buy stolen tires, car stereos and probably get a BJ for 25 bucks.

Now tell me, WHY on earth would it be good for guns to be easily acquired in said neighborhood? I almost guarantee you that 95% of the guns sold at that store are used in crimes by criminals.

This has nothing to do with restricting law abiding citizens.. Go to Bass Pro or any sporting goods store and you will notice a much different clientele... I'm not talking about race either. We have a huge population of white trash meth heads too, BUT... I guarantee you the crackheads and meth heads who live by that Wal Mart and probably ride the bus to work (if they have a job) would not go out of there way to go to the Sporting Goods store on the other side of town. They can just just walk in to their local China Junk store and by a cheap gun.

So in short.. Guns in the hands of law abiding citizens are good, proliferation of arms in a lower socioeconomic neighborhood.. not so much.

So, I say make it a little more difficult to acquire one. Take them out of the food stamp stores. I don't care. I have a car and a bank account and I can wait a few days and acquire one from bass pro.